Featured Blogs

It’s probably fair to say that the information, communications and technology (ICT) industry is littered with the corpses of failed joint ventures, business partnerships and strategic collaborations that never quite achieved the ambitions of the parties involved. It’s an important remind...

In a recent Heavy Reading blog (reprinted below) on Three UK’s new approach to assurance for their fully integrated cloud native core network – a world first – it is clear that leading CSPs are integrating evolved and state-of-the-art assurance capabilities from the very beginning ...

Secondary or sub-brands are certainly nothing new in the mobile communications industry. Indeed, many mobile operators have used one or several sub-brands to target different sections of the market, with varying degrees of success.
In recent years, sub-brands have become an important tool f...

From reading the latest headlines in the media, you would think that the only things telcos care about right now are 5G, NFV/SDN and IoT devices. While this may be valid for the upper echelons of mobile and fixed network operators, it is not the case for many telcos. Indeed, a large number of them a...

QoS Challenges in the NFV/5G networks
NFV-core based 5G networks have already caught the fancy of the Telco Cloud service provider. The reasons for this are its promise of high QoS.
High speed/throughput, high reliability, low latency, high capacity, high availability, high connectivity and dynam...

The ability to make and receive calls is the lifeblood of any customer-facing enterprise, while conventional fixed telephony systems are becoming something of an anachronism as people now favour mobile devices. The question that most SMEs should now be asking their IT departments is: do we still nee...

Digitization of businesses and virtualization of networks promise business benefits but are also introducing new challenges for the communications service providers.
Ongoing exponential increase in data consumption by subscribers, especially of video applications and OTT, has taken a toll on the ...

As the SDN and NFV train steams further on its journey towards network revolution, has the industry stopped to consider the wider impact? Is the infrastructure in place to serve the demands of the new system?
Trials continue with a bout of enthusiasm for the potential of SDN and NFV, which ...

Coming out and ranting against federated inventory has been interesting given the amount of anonymous feedback I have received. Anyone wanting to talk about it, let’s connect at TMF next week!
First, any reasonable order management or workflow product out there regardless of federated data ...

Communications service providers (CSPs) have, over many years, become besotted by different forms of assurance. I’m not talking about insurance here; it’s more about making sure things work properly they way they were designed to and the way customers expect them to work.
Depending on...

Supply and demand is the most important relationship between operators and users. It is also a relationship that is now undergoing a profound change because of one single development: the fact that today’s users are always connected to a smartphone or tablet.
As well as being “always ...

Back Away from the Banquet – Monetizing Mobile Data

I was once told that the best exercise for losing weight was pushing yourself away from the table and it’s time for mobile network operators to do the same. Many feel that they risk customers by eliminating all-you-can-eat data plans, but the truth is that most customers just want a data plan and they don’t have a problem paying for what they use but they aren’t going to count mega-bytes (seriously, who can do that anyway?). The key, then, is for mobile operators to offer alternatives – alternatives that enable them to monetize the expense of infrastructure and support while delivering services that suit customer lifestyles and willingness to pay.

Let’s face it, the reason that we have AYCE mobile data plans is that mobile operators weren’t able to design, price, deliver, measure, bill for, or support anything else. But there are alternatives and it’s not about limiting access or eliminating usage, it’s about perceived value. How about time-based plans? There isn’t an international business traveler that wouldn’t pay a premium to have local, mobile data access when traveling outside their home country. I buy a pre-paid product that gives me a week worth of mobile data service using my device (and number) like a local while I’m in their service area. It costs more than a local phone with a local plan, but as long as it costs less than international roaming, the customer is happy to pay and the service is more reliable. That service exists for WiFi in a number of countries and mobile operators should be able to deliver it too. Or applications with an expiration date – I don’t need a map of restaurants in Paris forever but I’d pay to use one for a week or two. The ability to target and focus both services and applications that are currently perceived as free (like AYCE or Google maps) creates a valuable product by eliminating the clutter and allowing customers access to what they really want – and they will pay for the convenience.

We are seeing that mobile data is not profitable for most operators and as demand increases and infrastructure spending tries to keep pace, profitability becomes even less likely – unless mobile operators start to deliver the kind of data products and services that not only support, but enable customer work and lifestyles. And how do mobile operators deliver that? By understanding their customers, enlisting partners and responding with a full menu of constantly changing products and services that range from fast-food to 7-course specialties, kids menus and happy hours. Then it takes leadership, planning and agile, adaptable B/OSS for product management, service delivery, support, and billing. The possibilities truly are limitless but first we need to push away from the table.